Without limiting the scope of the invention, its background is described in connection with the use and dosage forms of chemotherapeutic agents and agents for treating neurodegenerative diseases, including curcumin, curcumin analogues, and derivatives.
Curcumin has been reported to react negatively with growth receptors such as epidermal growth factor, bFGF, cytokine stimuli such as tumor necrosis factor and elements of signaling pathways including key components of proliferation; Survivin, Akt, DNA telomerase, BCL-2, and activators of NF-kB5. In both tumoral and normal tissues it acts as an antioxidant and contributes towards maintaining the redox potential of cells. Oral administration as an extract of the turmeric plant has been used in traditional medicine for over two thousand years and is reported to be devoid of toxicity and concomitantly systemic therapeutic activity mainly because of water insolubility, intestinal and hepatic inactivation causing negligible bioavailability to tissues beyond the gastrointestinal tract. To overcome these limitations, parenteral intravenous curcumin formulations with liposomes2, polymers3 (n-isopropylacrylamide, N-vinylpyrrolidione and acrylic acid) and polylactic glycolic acid copolymer4 are being developed.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,515 issued to Dimauro (2010) discloses the use of methylene blue, a curcumin hybrid for treating Alzheimer's Disease. The '515 patent relates to the intranasal administration of a formulation comprising an effective amount of curcumin to the olfactory mucosa across the cribriform plate and into the brain in order to treat a neurodegenerative disease, such as AD.
U.S. Patent Application No. 20060067998 (Kurzrock et al. 2006) provides compositions and methods for the treatment of cancer, including pancreatic cancer, breast cancer and melanoma, in a human patient. The methods and compositions of the present invention employ curcumin or a curcumin analogue encapsulated in a colloidal drug delivery system, preferably a liposomal drug delivery system. Suitable colloidal drug delivery systems also include nanoparticles, nanocapsules, microparticles or block copolymer micelles. The colloidal drug delivery system encapsulating curcumin or a curcumin analogue is administered parenterally in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier.